Is the Indian Tourism Industry on a Decline?

Updated on July 21, 2013

India is regarded as one of the best and most popular tourist destinations in the world and the tourism industry in India is something which contributes a substantial amount to the overall revenue of the country. India is blessed with a varied and diverse range of travel tour destination which has capture the imagination and applause of travelers throughout the world. India has travel destination for all kinds of seasons as the geographical diversity of India results in a unique and diverse climatic conditions and seasons across the country.

But there is one alarming fact that India is not at all happy about and that fact is something about the steady and gradual decline of the tourism industry in India. This is something that India cannot afford to happen, but if we can have a check at the past records and stats, we can clearly say that the tourism industry in India is on a decline. This is really alarming as India is one of the best place to planning a tour trip either with family or friends as India is blessed with some of the best travel destinations in the world.

If we take a look the search trends on keywords relegated to tour in India or tourism in India on Google trends at http://www.google.com/trends/, we can really see the decline in the graph. The images for the trend graph is also uploaded on the image section of this hub.This is a clear indication that the travelers across the world are losing their interest on visiting India and jumping to other travel destinations which are much cheaper and also comes with world class facilities. If this trends keeps continuing, in the coming decade India will be reduced to zero when it comes to tourism industry.

Why is the decline in tourism industry happening in India? Why global travels are no more interested in selecting India as their favorite travel destination? The questions are something that generates curiosity and confusion among us, as general public really finds it difficult to find genuine answers to the above questions. But the real answers lie in the political system of India and this is an area which is really hard to repair.

As we all know the Indian political system and government is one of the most corrupted in the world and even if the Government comes with a honest plan and budget to promote the tourism industry, the politicians are ready to grab on the opportunity for personal gains. Most of the fund allotted for tourism industry do not reached the actual destination and majority of the amount is looted by the politicians involved in the project. Ultimately what we get is an ill planned tourism project which is sure to fail in all aspects. If a tourism project fails, it will obviously have its effect on the Indian economy as well as the lives of common people who relies on the tourism industry for earning their breads.

If we look at some of the basic things such as cleanliness, hygiene, hospitality etc, India is much behind when it comes to the travel competitors such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. The crime rate and personal safety issues in India is another major thing that pulls back the tourists from coming to India and since the Indian laws are not strong enough to prevent even the simple crimes, most of the travelers dare to come here without thinking twice. Recently the attacks and rape cases against the foreign travelers are growing on rapid pace, which is not being dealt with the authorities in a proper way. When there are many other countries with more beautiful travel destinations, affordable rate, better safety for travelers, nice hospitality and even a better government and laws, why should the travelers risk their life by visiting India. This is the major question that goes through majority of the travelers.

So if India is serious in saving its tourism industry, it should work hard towards creating a clean and strong political system which is capable of utilizing the tourism funds properly and also use a good amount of the fund to make the travel destinations clean and hygiene. The Indian laws must also be amended in such a way that will result in the decline of crime rates. If these basic things are done in the proper way then we might yet again see a rise in the tourism industry in India.

The Indian tourism industry contributes a substantial amount to the per capita income of the country and the issue with the tourism industry is something that cannot be taken lightly and need to be dealt with seriousness. Otherwise India will be going to face a huge economic crisis in the coming years which will surely do severe damage to the Indian economy. So let us hope that the Indian Government takes necessary steps and bring back the flourishing tourism industry back on track.

Comments 4 comments

Great post !!! Yeah Tourism Industry in India is surely declining slowly slowly , and the fact you provided in cent percent correct. The govt here such a nuisance they never want India to be on the top whatever field it is , Govt here is too corrupt that defends anything that blooms naturally. India is such a beautiful country and yet it have so many hurdles to face off. Hope Someday it would be possible that India to be Top in Every field !!

georgescifo 3 years ago from India Author

You are absolutely right VKP. Thanks for posting your valuable comment!!

sunilkunnoth2012 3 years ago from Calicut (Kozhikode, South India)

The problem here high pricing of flight tickets and accommodation. Even Indians prefer going outward rather than opting for domestic destination just because of these price variation. We need to cut our rates. It is very cheap in Thailand, Sri Lanka, I mean both for travel and accommodation. Kerala is very expensive for lodging. If we address all these issues we can boost our tourism potentiality. The Sri Lanka is the biggest challenger for Kerala. Thank you for sharing.